Vivienne Westwood Quotes

To really be centered and to really work well and to think about the kinds of things that I need to think about, I need to spend large amounts of time alone.

You want to read a book? That requires introspection. It requires time away from people and time away from the constant need to communicate and to connect.

During the playoffs, I tone down the Internet usage.

One of the greatest necessities in America is to discover creative solitude.

My concentration span is truly that of a gnat. Some people have this ladder, and that's all there is - the ladder. I have the ladder, too, but there's a building around it with scaffolding, and lots of windows for me to peek into. Then suddenly I'll remember, 'Oh, there's the ladder. I should be concentrating on that.'

Brain studies of mental workouts in which you sustain a single, chosen focus show that the more you detach from what's distracting you and refocus on what you should be paying attention to, the stronger this brain circuitry becomes.

A creation of importance can only be produced when its author isolates himself, it is a child of solitude.

What do I mean by concentration? I mean focusing totally on the business at hand and commanding your body to do exactly what you want it to do.

Be able to be alone. Lose not the advantage of solitude, and the society of thyself.

These days you're not just competing with the tedium, you're competing with the cellphone.

I just prefer instrumental. I don't need to hear what other people are singing. And if I need music as a backdrop to work or to think, I need to have that part of the brain clear - I don't need people feeding their fantasies into my vision.

We need quiet time to examine our lives openly and honestly - spending quiet time alone gives your mind an opportunity to renew itself and create order.

No more than a surgeon can operate while tweeting can you reach your potential with one ear in, one ear out. You actually have to reacquaint yourself with concentration. We all do.

My mind tends to operate a bit like a radar. I don't find it hard to switch off.

Well, I was passionately curious about what my body was doing, and when I got the lessons on how to meditate, it seemed really solid to me. It seemed real.

Probably nothing serious or worthwhile can be accomplished without one's willingness to be alone for sustained periods of time, which is not to say that one must live alone, obsessively.

If you know you're going to be outside, you have to be a little bit more in tune, so that you don't get distracted by what's going on and focus better.

Don't stare into a mirror when you are trying to solve a problem.

When I was younger, I was able to write with music playing in the background, but these days, I can't. I find it distracting. Even when the music is just instrumental or has lyrics in a language I don't understand, the clash between the voices in my head and the song can be very disorienting.

I won't deny that I have a far more productive writing life without the Internet, mostly because I rekindle my ability to concentrate on one thing for a period of longer than three minutes. My curiosity is channeled inward rather than Internet-ward.

I work in silence.

Writing is a very lonely occupation. To write you need to concentrate, to concentrate you need to lock yourself away. No distractions; you want your stream of thought uninterrupted.

I think I definitely like the solitude of golf.

Whether you call it meditation, self-reflection or just shutting everything out, I am quite good at that.

The most real dialogue for me is when I am alone, writing.